God's Red Son : The Ghost Dance Religion and the Making of Modern America by Louis Warren book DJV
9780465015023 English 0465015026 In 1890, on Indian reservations across the West, followers of a new religion danced in circles until they collapsed into trances. In an attempt to suppress this new faith, the US Army killed over two hundred Lakota Sioux at Wounded Knee Creek. Louis Warren'sGod's Red Son offers a startling new view of the religion known as the Ghost Dance, from its origins in the visions of a Northern Paiute named Wovoka to the tragedy in South Dakota. To this day, the Ghost Dance remains widely mischaracterized as a primitive and failed effort by Indian militants to resist American conquest and return to traditional ways. In fact, followers of the Ghost Dance sought to thrive in modern America by working for wages, farming the land, and educating their children, tenets that helped the religion endure for decades after Wounded Knee.God's Red Son powerfully reveals how Ghost Dance teachings helped Indians retain their identity and reshape the modern world., In God's Red Son , prize-winning historian Louis Warren advances a radical new interpretation of a pivotal moment in American history. In the fall of 1890, on Indian reservations across the West, followers of a new religion joined hands in large circles and danced, often until they collapsed into trances. On waking, believers related their visits to a glorious heaven where they met with the Indian Messiah, who promised to restore believers to a renewed earth. In South Dakota, U.S. authorities panicked and tried to suppress the religion, with catastrophic results: On December 29, 1890, the U.S. Army killed over 200 Lakota Sioux at Wounded Knee Creek. History books have long presented the Wounded Knee massacre as the endpoint of both the Ghost Dance religion and Indians' military resistance to American conquest. To this day, the Ghost Dance remains widely understood as a primitive, naïve and failed effort by Indians to escape American conquest and return to the old ways. Warren comes to a strikingly different conclusion. The Ghost Dance was an evangelical religion that indeed promised the renewal of the earth and the restoration of Indian autonomy. But it also exhorted Indians to bring on this millennium by working for wages, farming the land, educating their children in schools, and even attending Christian churches. God's Red Son traces the religion from its origins in the vast deserts of Nevada, where the visions of a Northern Paiute Indian ranch hand named Wovoka, or Jack Wilson, initiated a sensational religious revival. Wovoka's teachings soon spread by rail, mail, and courier. The popularity of the Ghost Dance stemmed in part from its modernity, from its promise not only to renew the earth, but to ensure Indian survival and persistence in the Gilded Age. The story of the Ghost Dance religion, then, is one in which Indians and non-Indians alike grappled with profound spiritual, intellectual, and economic crisis. Following the stories of Wovoka, of key evangelists, and of the anthropologist James Mooney, who met all these leaders in 1891 and became a supporter of Indian religious freedom, God's Red Son powerfully illuminates how Ghost Dance teachings helped Indians to live and succeed in a modern world that had been forced upon them. Rather than signaling the end of the frontier era and Indian resistance, the Ghost Dance marked a series of beginnings: of Indian pursuit of religious freedom, of the reservation era, and, in many ways, of the twentieth century.
9780465015023 English 0465015026 In 1890, on Indian reservations across the West, followers of a new religion danced in circles until they collapsed into trances. In an attempt to suppress this new faith, the US Army killed over two hundred Lakota Sioux at Wounded Knee Creek. Louis Warren'sGod's Red Son offers a startling new view of the religion known as the Ghost Dance, from its origins in the visions of a Northern Paiute named Wovoka to the tragedy in South Dakota. To this day, the Ghost Dance remains widely mischaracterized as a primitive and failed effort by Indian militants to resist American conquest and return to traditional ways. In fact, followers of the Ghost Dance sought to thrive in modern America by working for wages, farming the land, and educating their children, tenets that helped the religion endure for decades after Wounded Knee.God's Red Son powerfully reveals how Ghost Dance teachings helped Indians retain their identity and reshape the modern world., In God's Red Son , prize-winning historian Louis Warren advances a radical new interpretation of a pivotal moment in American history. In the fall of 1890, on Indian reservations across the West, followers of a new religion joined hands in large circles and danced, often until they collapsed into trances. On waking, believers related their visits to a glorious heaven where they met with the Indian Messiah, who promised to restore believers to a renewed earth. In South Dakota, U.S. authorities panicked and tried to suppress the religion, with catastrophic results: On December 29, 1890, the U.S. Army killed over 200 Lakota Sioux at Wounded Knee Creek. History books have long presented the Wounded Knee massacre as the endpoint of both the Ghost Dance religion and Indians' military resistance to American conquest. To this day, the Ghost Dance remains widely understood as a primitive, naïve and failed effort by Indians to escape American conquest and return to the old ways. Warren comes to a strikingly different conclusion. The Ghost Dance was an evangelical religion that indeed promised the renewal of the earth and the restoration of Indian autonomy. But it also exhorted Indians to bring on this millennium by working for wages, farming the land, educating their children in schools, and even attending Christian churches. God's Red Son traces the religion from its origins in the vast deserts of Nevada, where the visions of a Northern Paiute Indian ranch hand named Wovoka, or Jack Wilson, initiated a sensational religious revival. Wovoka's teachings soon spread by rail, mail, and courier. The popularity of the Ghost Dance stemmed in part from its modernity, from its promise not only to renew the earth, but to ensure Indian survival and persistence in the Gilded Age. The story of the Ghost Dance religion, then, is one in which Indians and non-Indians alike grappled with profound spiritual, intellectual, and economic crisis. Following the stories of Wovoka, of key evangelists, and of the anthropologist James Mooney, who met all these leaders in 1891 and became a supporter of Indian religious freedom, God's Red Son powerfully illuminates how Ghost Dance teachings helped Indians to live and succeed in a modern world that had been forced upon them. Rather than signaling the end of the frontier era and Indian resistance, the Ghost Dance marked a series of beginnings: of Indian pursuit of religious freedom, of the reservation era, and, in many ways, of the twentieth century.